Importing from PersonalBrain 3

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(Go to:Topicscape Pro User Guide - contents list)

This method requires PersonalBrain Exporter, which used to be a free download from thebrain.com. It is no longer available, as since PB4, exporting is built in. This article has been retained for the reference of users who already have both PB3 and PersonalBrain Exporter. We do not supply PersonalBrain Exporter.

Step 1. Install PersonalBrain Exporter.

Step 2. Start | Programs | PersonalBrain Exporter | PersonalBrain Exporter

Step 3. Next | browse to the .brn file you want to export.

Let's say it's Abc.brn | OK | Next

Step 4. Choose Include Forgotten Thoughts and Include Private Thoughts if you wish.

Step 5. Choose Include Notes; Include PersonalBrain file then Include actual documents and files the shortcuts point to; Include Web links.

Step 6. Choose Next | Next | Next | Finish

Step 7. In the My Brains folder, once this has finished, you should now find a file called Abc.pba. Please note the warning about giving time for this to complete here (in the yellow box). Move this .pba file to the desktop and change its extension to 'zip'.

Step 8. Double-click on Abc.zip (you will need to have a file decompression utility like WinZip installed to do this) and select to extract the contents of the file to your desktop with 'use folder names'. This will make a folder containing almost everything that you need to make a Topicscape from the exported Brain data. It will contain a file called Abc.xml, which Topicscape will use to build your topics, their associations and occurrences. It may contain a folder called 'notes' containing any notes you had in the Brain just exported, and a folder called 'files' containing any files referred to in that Brain.

Step 9. We just said 'almost everything' because there is one more file you need if you are working with a PB3 export. This is personalbrain.dtd and it will be in your 'My Brains' directory. If it isn't you may need to re-install PersonalBrain Exporter. Please copy this to the new folder (Abc) on your desktop. The result should be as follows (for example):

C:\Documents and Settings\Billy\Desktop\Abc (a folder) notes (a folder) 00000002.rtf 00000006.rtf files (a folder) Forum notes.doc New hardware.xls Web color Abc.xml PersonalBrain.dtd

C:\Documents and Settings\Billy\Desktop\Abc a new folder containing:

• C:\Documents and Settings\Billy\Desktop\Abc\files
• C:\Documents and Settings\Billy\Desktop\Abc\notes
• Abc.xml
• personalbrain.dtd

You are now ready to ask Topicscape to make a new Topicscape for you from these files.

Each 'Thought' from TheBrain will become a topic, each file attached to a Thought will be an occurrence and any note attached to a Though will become an occurrence with the name 'A note about xyz' where xzy is the name of the Thought in which the note appeared originally. From this, Topicscape will build the following (again, this is an example):

C:\Documents and Settings\Billy\My Documents\My Topicscapes\Abc (a folder) notes (a folder) 00000002.rtf 00000006.rtf Abc.3DT (the Topicscape database) Forum notes.doc New hardware.xls Web color scheme.jpg

Next, import the files and folders prepared above

In Topicscape's File menu, select Import | XML to new Topicscape and find the directory made in the export process above. Click Open to begin the import process.

With a large Brain, this will take some time to complete.

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